Guardian: Globalisation at the crossroads

Economist Kenneth Rogoff argues in The Guardian's Comment is Free section that the US has championed free trade – at grave cost to itself. Rogoff asserts that in order too avoid a trade war, other countries must now share the burden...

American hegemony over the global economy is perhaps in its final decades. China, India, Brazil and other emerging markets are in ascendancy. Will the transition will go smoothly and lead to a global economy that is both fairer and more prosperous?

However much we may hope for this, the current rut in which the US finds itself could prove to be a problem for the rest of the world. Unemployment in the US is high, while fiscal and monetary policies have been stretched to their limits. Exports are the best way out, but the US needs help. Otherwise, simmering trade frictions could suddenly throw globalisation sharply into reverse. It wouldn't be the first time.